Shapiro family has a daily double

A wishful conversation between brothers Tom and Richard Shapiro led to a unique milestone for their family on Oct. 11 at Santa Anita.

In the sixth race, Big Whoosh, a 4-year-old filly owned and bred by Tom Shapiro and his wife, Debbie, won a maiden race for California-bred fillies and mares at 9-1.

A race later, Richard Shapiro’s Timayyyy closed from eighth in a field of nine to win a maiden race on turf at 7-1. The $2 Shapiro-Shapiro double paid $97.60.

“We were talking earlier, and I said, ‘Wouldn’t that be amazing if we had back-to-back wins,” Richard Shapiro said shortly after leaving the winner’s circle.

“It was very special.”

The Shapiros have a lifelong involvement in racing. Their grandfather, Louis K. Shapiro, bred and raced Native Diver, the popular winner of three runnings of the Hollywood Gold Cup from 1965-67.

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Richard Shapiro is a former chairman of the California Horse Racing Board. His son, Riley, is a jockey’s agent at Santa Anita, who prodded Richard into getting involved in ownership several years ago.

“He kept asking me, ‘Can’t we get half a horse,’ ” Richard Shapiro said. “Now I have 12 horses.”

Riley Shapiro represents Drayden Van Dyke, who rode Big Whoosh and Timayyyy. Big Whoosh is trained by Dan Azcarate. Timayyyy is trained by George Papaprodromou. The latter is named after a character on the animated television series “South Park,” and was claimed for $50,000 on Aug. 1 at Del Mar.

Richard Shapiro’s silks are blue with white polka dots. Thomas and Debbie Shapiro race in the family’s legacy silks of white with blue dots.

The Shapiros are unlikely to have another chance at a personal daily double in the near future, but they could have winners on consecutive days this weekend. Richard Shapiro starts Timayyy in Saturday’s seventh race, while Tom and Debbie Shapiro start Stamp My Passport in Sunday’s seventh race.

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